EU planned to pass climate burden to poor countries, but did no analysis

In response to a document request by POLITICO seeking the Commission’s analysis of the economic and emissions impact of the policy, the EU executive branch responded that although it had consulted the economic analysis and modeling unit, “We regret to inform you that DG CLIMA does not hold any documents.”

Climate campaigners and the EU’s own scientific advisers have criticized the proposal for weakening the bloc’s domestic efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. They have also warned of risks that the credits could be fraudulent or undermine the EU’s carbon trading system.

In the face of this, the Commission capped the use of the credits at 3 percentage points of the target to help reach an overall cut in emissions of 90 percent below 1990 levels by 2040. 

An initial impact assessment for the 2040 target produced by the Commission last year did not make any analysis of carbon credits use — an option that only entered into discussions this past spring.

Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said the EU executive had conducted “extensive engagement” with “stakeholders” and political groups before publishing the proposal, in order to “consider the possible inclusion of a limited amount of high-quality international credits in the design of the post-2030 policy framework.”

Itkonen added that the Commission had committed to carrying out an impact assessment on the use of the international carbon credits.